Is installing Apple Java SE 6 unavoidable to use Max for Live on Mavericks?

I do actual Java development aside from working with Live and Max for Live. I just got new hardware and am using Mavericks for the first time. My installation of Eclipse is working just fine with the Oracle supplied JDK 7 I installed, but when I try to utilize some of the Max for Live packs I get that annoying "please install Apple Java SE 6" error.

I _really_ do not want to install an Apple supplied JRE (which adds symlinks all over the system which you can't undo and which could impact the predictability of code I write using JDK 7) unless there's absolutely no way around it -- but there should be a way around it.

I haven't seen anything in the discussions, however, so my guess is that most everyone just installs the SE without thinking much about it?

11 answers

With Apples Java 6 version or any Java version, you should go into the java control panel (in System Preferences) and set it to be inactivated in web browsers. Security holes are in the browser.

As far as I know Max never responds to the network or tries to access it, so having Java 6 installed with web browsers off, shouldn't pose a security threat.

What bugs me is that Cycling74 doesn't openly name a Java 6 JVM among their requirements, nor does Ableton. Also, Cycling74 should supply the JVM if it is a requirement. That's pretty much how Java developers do it otherwise these days, at least if they have legacy users.

5 months ago|
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jhimm

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1 answer 2 votes received

2 votes

I have a support response from Cycling 74.

"The basic of it is we're not compatible with Oracle Java. There is a tickets for engineering at present but at this time it is not scheduled for attention."

"Not scheduled for attention" meaning they won't even look at it until Apple and Oracle sort out their pissing contest.

In other words, they wrote their product in Java, but can't be bothered to make it functional with a proper, real version of Java provided by the actual developer of Java, they'd rather just use the hacked up version Apple foists on people because that's better for their bottom line.

If getting Max for Live (which is now useless to me) was the main reason I'd upgraded to Live 9, this would be about to become a very big deal.

Ditto! Why do the users get jammed up? If I have to run Java 6, this is a step back. I was hoping that a move to Apple would be better than this.

8 months ago|
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pete23com

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1 answer 2 votes received

2 votes

1) it works when you install the old Apple JRE 6

2) as a developer, I'm used to dealing with multiple JREs, so have no problem using Java 8 for dev whilst having the old JRE installed to service M4L. hell, eclipse has about fifty JREs it finds on my windoze box. it's just not a big deal.

6 months ago|
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ddp

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1 answer 2 votes received

2 votes

You can install Apple's version and it will co-exist with newer versions from Oracle. The main problem is that Apple's no longer updating that code and it's probably full of security holes. But it sounds like if you want to be able to run Max for Live, there's not much else you can do at this point.

5 months ago|
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jhave

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1 answer 2 votes received

2 votes

Anyone got a direct URL to the Java version required? After dismissing the dialog it does not reoccur... and Java website is a massive snarl of downloads...

2 months ago|
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dchang0

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1 answer 2 votes received

2 votes

Hey, Ableton + Cycling '74-- it's on you guys to upgrade Max so that it runs on a current, secure JRE. Choose OpenJDK 8 or Oracle JDK 8--something that doesn't have huge security vulnerabilities. It's really hard to not be connected to the web (airgapped) on our studio computers, and it's even harder not to get hit by some browser exploit on a weekly basis. I understand that it is possible to turn off Java 6 in the browser while allowing it to run for apps, but I'd rather not have a no-longer-updated JRE on my system at all.

1 month ago|
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beta-d

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1 answer 2 votes received

2 votes

Hi, I'm running OS X Yosemite 10.10.3 and found that Max for live wouldn't work. i updated to the latest version of Java and updated Max for live to 6.1.10 (64-bit as I'm using 9.1.10 64-bit) it still wouldn't work. I then downgraded Java to Java for OS X 2014-001 https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1572?locale=en_US and Max is woking! Hope this helps users with difficulties in using Max for Live.

Just checked my Java version and it's Java 8 Update 45 so the problem I've had seems to be with the installer from Oracle as everything was fixed with Apple's (link to the) installer.

1 month ago|
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emergere

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3 answers 5 votes received

1 vote

Click on the "more info" button when the error box comes up and it transports you to a webpage with a download for Java.

8 months ago|
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JoelCBennett

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1 answer 1 vote received

1 vote

Does this mean that I can somehow find an old version of Java 6, install it, then it will work? Or are we completely out of luck?

8 months ago|
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Quez

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1 answer 1 vote received

1 vote

I have Max 6 running fine without Java, but the new Max 7 requires the old Java 6 SE to run. This is disappointing.

There's a reason Apple has removed it from Mavericks (and upwards) : it's a security risk, and now unsupported.

Staying with Max 6 until they fix this (which they won't have the choice to, at some point)